Tree “slap” painting
I saw somewhere on Instagram a video of a man who stands outdoors with a canvas and slaps it with a tree branch that has paint on it and moments later, he has a spectacular painting of a tree. I am sure many of you have seen this too! OK, so there are several things at play here. A tree branch, with its branching and repeating pattern, is a fractal, so a branch emulates the shape of a full tree. Pretty cool. Next, as with anything on the Internet that looks effortlessly easy, impromptu and not produced, most likely it has been rehearsed, edited, practiced, and attempted many times before the final product is released. Nevertheless, I thought it would be fun to attempt to replicate this, because it totally looks like fun! I found a fallen branch (not wanting to cut or rip one off of a tree) and that was probably my first mistake. Since the branch was fallen, it was very dried out and did not have any of the pliability of recently cut branch that still has some flexibility. I coated it with gold acrylic paint, which was actually a great choice and probably the best thing I did. And then I slapped that baby down on a piece of nice watercolor paper. I got a lot of splattering and nothing close to a clear image of a branch or anything suggesting a tree. But that didn’t stop me! The marks that the slap made were intriguing enough that I kept thinking about this. When I got home, I painted in watercolor over the acrylic, letting the metallic shine through. I followed the lines that the branch had made, which were impressions or echoes of a tree’s form, and used the maple tree in my backyard as an inspiration and model for the form. I am happy with how it came out, but it feels unfinished. One of the students in my class who is a wonderful artist suggested doing something with transparent collage. I have some Japanese paper with gold flecks in it and I have some ideas of what I’m going to do with it…stay tuned!
My new session of Nature Journaling has been wonderful, and my students are really embracing the idea of mark making and gesture drawing and feeling the movement in the forms that they are drawing. This past week, we focused on clouds, which was a lot of fun. I tend to draw inspiration from the books of Clare Walker Leslie (great name, by the way!), particularly, Keeping a Nature Journal and the Curious Nature Guide. These are both great tools for beginning this meditative practice. On that note, please check out my new podcast, co-hosted by my friend Kim, called “Seeing the Unseen” (currently available on Spotify for the moment. It will be released more widely soon.) in which we discuss the miracles that can be found in nature right outside our doorstep. As one of the people in my class noted, when you start to look, you see so much more, and there is wonder literally everywhere! I couldn’t have said it better myself. I’m so glad that Nature Journaling can help people to tune in and get connected with the world around them, themselves, and each other in the process! In fact, we stopped by the milkweed plants going to seed at the community center at the end of class and discovered a bounty of life - milkweed beetles gathering, ladybugs, wasps and bees, seed pods, half-eaten leaves, monarch butterflies…so fun!
What I’m watching:
I am currently enrolled in an online writing course through Kripalu. I did it last year because Valerie June was giving a class, and I jumped at the chance to interact with her. It was amazing! They have some great online offerings. Last year, I was able to join a retreat online featuring Robin Wall Kimmerer, indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it! I’ve linked to Robin’s page, but don’t forget you can get any of the books I recommend at your local library.
What I’m reading:
The Secret Life of the Universe by Nathalie Cabrol. (Had to link to the SETI institute for this book- check it out). Ok, this book is amazing! The author is an incredible person on so many levels, wow, she holds a world record for free diving at altitude. If that doesn’t pique your curiosity, I don’t know what will. All I can say is, it’s completely worth reading just to learn about “the inevitable life theory”.
What I’m listening to:
I’m enjoying some songs from Kacey Musgraves’ new album, Deeper Well. I really loved her highly acclaimed album Golden Hour, particularly “Oh What a World.” Great for any nature journaling student to listen to!
